396 Scientific InteUigejice. — Zoology. 



present year, in the Hastings strata of Sussex, are two speci- 

 mens, which Baron Cuvier has determined to be the ungual, 

 or distal phalangeal bones {phalanges ungueales) of the Iguano- 

 don ; the bones which form the extremities of the toes and 

 support the nails. In their general form, these fossils resemble 

 the analogous bones of the iguana, but are of a magnitude cor- 

 responding to the teeth, vertebrae, he. of this extraordinary fos- 

 sil reptile, previously discovered in Tilgate forest. The arti- 

 culating surface of the largest specimen measures 2|th inches in 

 its longest diameter ; the same pai't in an iguana 3 feet long, 

 does not exceed x^xhs of an inch. The length of the fossil, when 

 entire, must have been nearly four inches, that of the recent 

 bone is but fths of an inch. — A. B. 



ZOOLOGY. 



8. Fishes that travel on the Land. — Doras costata, or Hassar, 

 —This species is one of those fishes which possess the singular 

 property of deserting the water, and travelling over land. In those 

 terrestrial excursions, large droves of the species are frequently 

 met with during very dry seasons, for it is only at such periods 

 that they are compelled to this dangerous march, which exposes 

 them as a prey to so many and such various enemies. When 

 the water is leaving the pools in which they commonly reside, 

 the yarrows (a species of Esox Lin.), as well as the second spe- 

 cies of Hassar^ to which I shall presently refer, bufy themselves 

 in the mud, while all the other fishes perish for want of their 

 natural element, or are picked up by rapacious birds, &c. The 

 Jiat headed hassars, on the contrary, simultaneously quit the 

 place, and march over land in search of water *, travelling for a 

 whole night, as is asserted by the Indians, in search of their ob- 

 ject. I have ascertained, by trial, that they will live many 

 hours out of water, even when exposed to the sun's rays. Their 

 motion over land is described to be somewhat Uke that of the 

 two-footed lizard. They project themselves forward on their 

 bony arms, by the elastic spring of the tail exerted sidewise, 



• In an excursion made by my friend Mr Campbell, of Sparta Estate, Esse- 

 quibo, with his family to the sand-reefs, a spot situated about six miles a-back of 

 the sea-coast, they fell in with a drove of these animals, which were on their 

 march overland to a branch of the Pomeroon. They were so numerous that 

 the Negroes filled several baskets with those they picked up. 



